Mecha Mayhem Online
by ObsidianDawn
Summary: After hearing about new VRMMO game, Kirito and Asuna decide to check out the Beta. It seems fun and innocent enough, but as they delve further into the game, Kirito and his friends discover a dark agenda. Former SAO players are the target, but who is pulling the strings of Mecha Mayhem Online? -Post Mother Rosario, pre Alicization-
1. Prologue

**Spoiler Note:** I usually hate putting something like this in front of a story, since it detracts from the pull of the initial chapter, but I felt I needed to avoid spoiling things for some. This story takes place less than a month after the Mother Rosario arc, but before Alicization. If you've only watched the Anime or haven't finished the Gun Gale and Mother Rosario arc, you might want to read them before continuing, to avoid spoilers.

* * *

**Prologue**

* * *

Reality will always be more powerful than than the virtual world. I believe that firmly. Yet the world we create as humans, while never coming quite as close in terms of beauty and light, has it's own mystery and allure. As the sun slowly set behind the canopy of the coniferous forest, I relished the gentle breeze that drifted across the lake. Even though it wasn't real, and could never quite capture all the sensations of the warmth of the sun and a spring wind, it was real enough for me. The weather setting on floor twenty-two of Aincrad closely resembled that of the real world, the warm days and cool evenings were my favorite, and there was nowhere I'd rather spend it. This, more than anywhere, was home for me. Or should I say for us.

A pair of slender arms wrapped around my waist from behind, and the familiar pressure against my back announced Asuna's presence. Pressing her body against me, my virtual wife nuzzled the back of my neck with her forehead, and for a moment the brilliant sunset was forgotten. Though we could see each other in the real world whenever we wanted, the chains of the virtual world no longer binding us, we still enjoyed our home here in Alfeim Online's version of Aincrad. This was where we had spend some of the best days of our lives, and even though it technically wasn't the same cottage that we had lived in while trapped in the Sword Art Online, the Death Game, the memories would forever stay with us.

"Come on." Asuna said, taking my hand. "Dinner is ready."

Smiling, I followed her into our home, the blue hair of her Undine avatar trailing after her. I honestly preferred her original SAO avatar, that is to say Asuna's actual appearance, but I would never tell her as much. Her character in ALO was cute, certainly, but the real girl was far more beautiful than any graphics engine could emulate, no matter how powerful it was. As we settled down at the table, I found myself staring out at the sun as it finished it's descent.

It had been five months since this floor of Aincrad had been unlocked, and for the first time in weeks Asuna and I had the house to ourselves. Our friends from ALO spent almost as much time here as we did, which wasn't something that really bothered us. The house was always filled with laughter, and if they were absent then the AI we had adopted from SAO, Yui, would fill the void. This evening Yui was off with Lisbeth and Silica, no doubt causing some trouble in Yggdrasil City.

Since moving back into the cottage on the 22nd floor, Asuna and I seldom bothered coming to any of the raids in Aincrad. Our goal had simply been this, though Asuna had gone off on her own adventure with the Sleeping Knights. It hadn't been a month since Yuuki's funeral, and Asuna still felt the loss. I'd tried my best to be there for her, and in that regard I'd been successful in my mission. Her mood had lightened considerably in the last few days, though whether that was due to me or the time we'd spent in our home, I couldn't say.

"Kirito," Asuna said, loading my plat with food. "If it's alright with you, I'd like you to stay here with me again tonight."

"Of course. There's nowhere I'd rather be."

The smile she flashed still affected me, after all this time, even if she didn't look like the real Asuna right now. With it being Saturday evening, we had a bit more freedom to spend time in the virtual world. Asuna's mother wouldn't allow her to remain logged in during a week night, despite the fact that any sleep she got here would be just as restful as in her own bed. On Friday and Saturday, however, we could spend all night together in our home.

We ate quickly, with few words exchanged. One thing we'd both loved in SAO was the food. It could never quite reach the texture and taste of reality, but with Asuna's maxed out cooking skill I often found it even better. Having cleared my plate, I collapsed onto the sofa nearby, letting out a long sigh. It was only a moment before Asuna came and curled up against me, her palms and and head resting on my chest.

"I almost forgot." I said, touching her bright hair. "Agil asked me to come by tonight, in the real world. Saturday nights are always busy at his place, but it sounded like he had something important to tell me."

"Will you be long?"

"No clue. Why don't you come with me? We'll see what he needs, and be back here in time to go to bed."

"What if I'm not sleepy?" Asuna asked, glancing up at me mischeviously.

"Then... we'll have to find something else to do."

I couldn't keep the flush of red from my cheeks, which was exactly the response Asuna was after. We stayed wrapped up with each other for awhile longer before logging out, and Asuna declined my offer to pick her up. I was secretly relieved. She enjoyed riding with me on the old combustion motorcycle, but her mother was much less thrilled about it, being the practical woman she was. I never told Asuna how much her mother intimidated me, though I'm sure she had guessed.

I arrived at Agil's to find it less busy than expected for a weekend, which was odd considering how nice of a night it was. Agil waved me over, and I somehow managed to weave between his customers without knocking anyone over, which was a small miracle. Asuna had apparently beat me there, and was seated at the bar, with someone I hadn't expected to see.

"Klein, what are you doing here?"

"You kidding me?" He replied, grinning. "You wouldn't believe how many beautiful women stop here on Saturdays. It's a gold mine!"

"Which makes me wonder why you've struck out three times already tonight." Agil said, the rich timbre of his voice standing out.

"We can't all be as lucky as Kirito." Klein shot back, winking at Asuna. "Just wait, my night is about to turn around."

"So what did you want to see me about? It sounded important." I asked Agil.

"I suppose it could be, depending on if you're interested." He said, sliding a paper over to me. "Take a look at that."

I snatched it up and briefly glanced over the text, frowning. It was an issue of MMO Today, which covered all the up and coming VRMMO's that were constantly being created using The Seed that had been born from SAO. This particular page was for a new game that had yet to be released, and one that I somehow hadn't heard of.

"Mecha Mayhem Online?" I said. "MMO? Isn't that name a little cheesy?"

"I think it's clever. Though I do see how it could lead to some confusion. Keep reading." Klein said, rubbing the scruff on his chin.

"The Closed Beta test for MMO begins on May 1st. Developed by Tsukino Industries, the game takes elements from previous VRMMO games and builds upon them to create a unique, futuristic world of Mecha combat on a massive scale. There are a limited number of slots available for the Beta, but in an interesting move the developers have extended an open invitation to all former players of the notorious Sword Art Online. They've been very vocal in welcoming all those players who had overcome adversity and real danger by surviving the Death Game, speaking openly of their bravery and strength."

I stared at the article for a long moment, frowning thoughtfully. Though the events of SAO were widely publicized and becoming common knowledge, no game developer had the courage to mention such a tragedy. Quite the opposite, most took great pains to separate their game from SAO as much as possible, so as to not remind people of the game that nearly killed the VRMMO industry. The only exception was ALO, which had taken Aincrad and integrated it into it's own world, with overwhelming support from former SAO players.

"I know what you're thinking." Agil said, leaning on the counter. "Sounds fishy, right? So I contacted the company directly and discussed it with one of their representatives. Apparently MMO was created with the help of several top players from both Sword Art and Gun Gale Online, and they expressed interest in trying to get as many former SAO players into the game as possible to test it."

"Yeah, I can understand that." I admitted, leaning back and tucking both hands behind my head. "There's a sense of belonging between a lot of us, isn't there? I see why they would want SAO players to check out their game. But to be honest, I don't think I'd want to transfer my character over or start fresh in a new game."

"That's the best part." Klein said, grinning. "You don't have to transfer your character. The developers actually compiled all the character data from SAO, so you can leave your original character in ALO and play this with the same skills you had on Kirito. They've been converted to MMO's format, of course."

"Won't that piss off a lot of gamers who didn't play SAO?"

"I'm sure it does, but nobody is going to complain about people who had to fight for their lives getting better treatment. Besides, they're offering some bonus cash to brand new players to compensate. It's a bold move, but everyone seems okay with it."

"The Closed Beta is only for two weeks." Agil said, serving a drink to a customer nearby. "At the end of the Beta they're having some huge PvP event. The hype on all the gaming sites is crazy, and it's already receiving a ton of attention."

"I don't know." I said, sighing. "Most Mecha games I've played bored me. Even if I get to use some of my skills from SAO, it's probably another generic giant robot game where you smash stuff."

Klein looked crestfallen, and Agil simply shrugged. To be honest, it did look interesting, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about the game. I had enjoyed GGO, and if this game was combining aspects from both it and Sword Art, it could be pretty awesome. That, or it could be handled poorly and flop, but either way I was more content to spend my time with Asuna and our friends in ALO, even if that amounted to just sitting around in our cottage all day.

"I'd like to try it." Asuna said suddenly, breaking the silence she'd held the entire time and glancing over at me.

"Really?"

"Yes. I think it looks fun, as long as I don't have to transfer my character data. As much as I love spending time with everyone in ALO, I sometimes miss the thrill of fighting on the front lines of a game that is new and interesting. You feel the same way, I know you do, so why don't we give it a try?"

There was a light in Asuna's eyes that I hadn't seen in some time, a kind of excited determination, that it took me a moment to place. The last time I'd seen her look like that had been as she was entering the boss room on Aincrad's 27th floor, with the Sleeping Knights at her side. It was a look she'd maintained on the front lines of SAO and one that I'd grown to love. I was powerless against it, against her, as I always had been.

"Okay." I said, smiling. "I'm in."

* * *

**Author's Note:** A few things. I'm trying to follow the same writing format as the Light Novel, with Kirito's perspect of First Person with the other characters being written in Third Person. This is a somewhat unreliable form, and isn't one I've done before, but I felt it more in line with the original source material. Also as a native English speaker, I refrained from using the Japanese honorifics. Mainly this is because while I am familiar with their meaning and use, I'm not comfortable enough with them to use them confidently. I'll also be using the English style of names, such as saying Asuna Yuuki instead of Yuuki Asuna, as it would be written in a direct translation. Think of it as an English dub, I suppose. This is just something I'm doing to keep my mind sharp while going through the mind-numbing editing of my novel before sending it off, and because I felt it would be fun to write a Sword Art story.

Comments encouraged, and let me know any plot points I may miss or things I mess up on. I've got a lot on my plate now, and even if this is just something I'm doing for fun, I don't want to make any glaring mistakes that detract from the story. Does the First Person-Third Person switch seem like a good idea, or should I switch it out to stick to one perspective? That's my biggest concern at the moment.


	2. Rephaim

**Chapter Two: Rephaim**

* * *

"Hurry up Kazuto, everyone will be waiting for us."

I nodded, dropping next to Asuna on my bed and handing her a bottle of water. Though food and drink in the virtual world would suffice to fight off hunger, it didn't actually do anything in the real world. When diving for long periods of time, it was usually a good idea to hydrate first. We both took several big swigs before setting the bottles on my desk, before falling back to lie side by side.

We'd gone to sleep the night before, after meeting with Agil and Klein, in our virtual home. Not two hours after waking and we were back in bed in the real world, together again. As May 1st was a Sunday, we would have all day to check out the Closed Beta of Mecha Mayhem Online. In a rare move, Asuna insisted that we dive together, at my home. With my little sister Sugu gone on a trip for her Kendo club, and mother away on business, we had the house all to ourselves. I confess it crossed my mind not to bother with the game at all, and make use of the time we had alone.

Having promised to meet Agil and Klein in Mecha Mayhem, however, it would have been rude to simply stand them up. So Asuna and I squeezed into my bed as comfortably as possible before putting on the AmuSphere. I felt her hand slip into mine as we commenced the dive, and knew I'd be able to sense it vaguely, even in the virtual world.

"Link start!" We said in unison, and dropped into a familiar tunnel of light.

As always when entering a full dive, it took me a moment to become accustomed to the changes. There's always a sense of disorientation when entering the virtual world, though by now I'd grown so used to it that it was barely an issue. One moment we were lying in bed and the next we were standing, bright light filtering down toward us, our fingers still twined together.

We were standing in a massive square, surrounded by modern buildings and shops. No doubt this was the main starter town, but for some reason it looked vaguely familiar to me. It definitely wasn't a city in GGO. Lacking in the gritty, western feel that game had bestowed on its environment, it seemed like a place I'd been to before, but I couldn't quite place it.

Adjusting to the change of scenery, I glanced over at Asuna to see her appearance had changed little. She looked much the same as she did in the real world, and I realized that it was indeed her avatar from SAO. From the braid in her hair to the shy smile, nothing had changed. Except, that is, for her clothes. It took me a moment to notice the alteration, and I felt a flush of red creep up my cheeks when I looked down at her body.

"Asuna... your clothes."

Frowning, she looked down, and let out a surprised yelp that drew the eyes of a few other players who had just entered the game. The color of her outfit matched the guild uniform she'd worn in SAO, white trimmed in red, but the similarities ended there. What Asuna wore now was practically a second skin. It fit so tight to her body that it seemed to cling to every curve, from her hips to her breasts. I wouldn't tell her and risk a thrashing, but I liked the change. The snug suit had a circular device on top of each of Asuna's hands, which were now covering her chest, as her face turned a furious scarlet.

"What is this?" She asked, glaring at me for looking her over so thoroughly. "This... this is too inappropriate."

"In the Mech shows, many times you need a special suit to run them, and it's designed to make it easier to control the machines. It's probably so tight to better sync with your Mech's interface."

"Then why is yours different?" She cried, causing me to look down.

She was right. My jumpsuit was the same black as I preferred, but was not nearly as tight as Asuna's. It was adorned with several black mesh plates, and hung comfortably off my frame. The same circles were on my hands as well, and I wasn't sure just what they could be for. As I looked over my uniform, I felt a firm grip on my shoulder from behind.

"It's called fanservice." Klein said, the grin on his face clear in his voice. "I must say Asuna, you wear it well."

Shooting him a look, I noticed that the red-haired man wasn't alone. Agil was at his side, and directly behind both men, trying to shy away from the prying eyes of the dozens of other players around them in the square, was Silica and Lisbeth. The two girls had similar jumpsuits as Asuna, though also in the same colors they favored in SAO.

"It's ridiculous is what it is!" Liz whispered harshly. "If I find the nerd who designed these things, I swear!"

"I didn't figure you and Silica would be interested in this game." I said to her, trying my best to not let my gaze wander from her face.

"Well, Klein and Agil told us about it last night, and we figured it would be a nice change from ALO." Silica said, smiling.

"Besides," Liz added. "We have to keep an eye on you all. With these two as your chaperones, who knows what kind of trouble you'd get into."

"Hey!" Klein shot back. "Agil and I are both mature adults, you guys are the minors here!"

"Mature? Give me a break! And stop looking at my jumpsuit!"

As Liz and Klein went back and forth, I pulled up my in-game menu, first checking to be sure I could log out. It was an old habit after SAO, and even though I knew the AmuSphere prevented being trapped in a game, it still gave me peace of mind. Agil, his massive frame draped in a green suit like mine, was frowning as he flipped through his own menu.

"Kirito, take a look at your skills." He said.

I nodded, pulling up my skill menu and seeing the same thing he probably was. Every one of them were locked. I could see the name of them, but not what they did in this world. Asuna flipped through hers as well with a thoughtful noise.

"If this game is all about piloting a robot then maybe we can only use our combat skills inside of them." She said, using one finger to scroll down. "My cooking skill isn't locked, so that must be it."

"I suppose that makes sense." I agreed, looking over the rest of the menu options. "Hey, look at this. You can actually change your avatar."

"I figured that option would be available." Agil said. "When they downloaded all the character data from SAO, it would leave us with the avatar, that is to say our real appearance, that was in that game. I don't doubt the former players helping out with MMO insisted it be possible to reset."

I glanced over at Asuna, and saw her bite down gently on her lower lip. It wasn't hard to guess what she was thinking. She'd grown accustomed to her Undine character from ALO, and I knew how little she enjoyed excess attention. Changing to something other than her actual appearance probably appealed to her. Squeezing her hand I leaned over, brushing my lips against her ear.

"If it's all the same to you Asuna, I like you more the way you are now. It's way better than anything some game engine could make up."

Blushing, she nodded slightly, closing her menu. In front of us, Silica and Lisbeth were bathed in bright light for a moment, as they altered their appearance. The changes weren't drastic, mostly Liz's hair color changing to a bright pink and Silica's height increasing slightly. Even so long after we'd escaped from SAO, it was comfortable to stay close to what we were used to.

"Screw it." Klein said, smirking at me. "I might as well stick with the way I am. I hate messing around with the hassle of creating an avatar anyway."

Agil shrugged, leaving his appearance the same as well, before his eyes wandered around the large square. No doubt he was thinking what I had been earlier; That there was something familiar about this place. It was somewhere I'd been before, I was sure of it. On a hunch, I pulled up the area map of the city, looking for a name or some clue as to where I'd seen these buildings. There was no label, but the entire map of the city was available. From what I could tell the entire town, which was fairly large, was surrounded by a dome. Looking up at the sky, I could faintly see the wavy lines of air, like a mirage, that might indicate such a massive boundary. Examining the map more closely, it suddenly came to me what I was looking at.

"This is Shinjuku!" I said to Agil, surprised that I didn't notice sooner. "It looks like they mapped out the entire district, and made it into its own city here in this game."

"Then it's probably safe to assume the did that with the rest of Tokyo as well. Divide the districts up, toss a dome on them, and you save tons of time and effort on building them from scratch. With the amount of mapping that has been done in the real world over the years they probably just downloaded it all straight here and let The Seed do the rest."

"I can't believe nobody ever thought of doing this before." Liz said. "It seems pretty cool to have a virtual world so closely related to the real one, doesn't it?"

Before anyone could reply, a small commotion not far off drew my attention. I was surprised to see how many other players had joined the game. There were hundreds of people gathered in the large square now, meeting up with friends and talking amongst themselves. A large platform had been assembled against one building, and atop it stood about a dozen people. One man stepped forward, and I swore I knew him from somewhere, but my gaze darted away from him before I could nail it down. A short distance from him I spotted short blue hair, and a familiar avatar that I hadn't expected to see.

"Kirito," Asuna said, tugging on my sleeve. "Isn't that Sinon?"

I nodded, keeping my gaze on her to see if she noticed me. With so many players gathered around us now it wasn't likely; I'd have to find her later and talk with her. At her side were what I assumed to be other GGO players, but their avatars were not familiar to me. One looked to possibly be Dyne, the player Sinon had fought on a squad with for a time, but I couldn't say for certain. My gaze wandered back to the man who had stepped forward as he lifted a small device to his mouth, and began to speak.

"Welcome to Mecha Mayhem Online." He said with a small smile. "I see a few familiar faces in the crowd today, and I'm excited about that. To those that may not remember me from SAO, and for all the new players I'd like to welcome as well, my name is Toshio."

"Toshio." I found myself saying quietly. "I never expected to see him in front of so many people."

Asuna glanced over at me, frowning thoughtfully. In the world of Sword Art Online, most players were divided into two categories. I suppose you could call them Clearers, and Livers. Many of those trapped in the game resolved themselves to more mundane tasks, and went about living as best they could in some of the safe zones and cities within the games. Those on the front line, fighting to clear the game and return to the real world, were in short supply by comparison. Most clumped into guilds and parties to get through the dungeon and fight the bosses. An even smaller group were the solo players. Some were Beaters, like me, Beta Testers who had no place in a large group. Others preferred to go their own way, or simply didn't trust other players with their lives. Out of that loose handful I was the strongest, and I fought at the front lines with the top guilds, such as the Knights of Blood that Asuna was second in command of. Few other solo players could keep up with the levels of those who had help from a guild, and Toshio was one of them. I'd come across him often when clearing a floor or farming for items, though we never really spoke.

Dark haired and lean, Toshio was a tall, lithe man. If I could guess at his age I would say probably early twenties. There wasn't much that anyone knew about him. During our time in SAO he'd shown himself to be competent if not one of the top players, but he never joined a guild and wanted little to do with others.

As Toshio named off some of the other SAO players at his side, I recognized many of them. Most were from Asuna's guild, as it was the most prominent on the front lines, though there were other strong players from other guilds as well. Directly at his side, having not been named, was a girl I didn't recognize. Her hair was as dark as mine, with bright eyes and a cool expression. One thing I knew for certain was that she had never played SAO. A girl on the front lines was a rare thing, and every one of them was well known, which was part of the reason Asuna had been so popular. Whoever the woman in the form fitting black jumpsuit was, she wasn't one of us.

"Who's that next to Toshio?" Klein asked, obviously as interested as I was, if for different reasons. "She's really cute. No way she played SAO, I would have remembered a face like that."

"Do you ever quit?" Liz asked, rolling her eyes. "I'm surprised Kirito doesn't know her. They're from the same realm."

"What do you mean?"

"That's Kasumi. Before you came to ALO, she was the strongest of the Spriggans. I'm not sure what she's doing here though."

"Change of pace maybe?" I guessed. "Just like us."

Having introduced the SAO players, Toshio turned to those that had come from Gun Gale, and waved one forward in particular. Sinon nodded at him, stepping forward and nervously looking over the crowd. It had been a few weeks since I'd seen her, since she was focusing on the next big tournament in GGO.

"I would also like to introduce Sinon, winner of Gun Gale Online's last Battle of Bullets, and the players from GGO who took the time to help us balance and build this world."

"Co-winner, he means." Asuna grumbled, taking offense on my behalf.

"The system here has defaulted your avatar to what you used in SAO." Toshio continued. "You may change it, if you like, in the options menu. You will also see that all of your skills, as best they could be transferred, are still there. They're locked until you suit up in your Rephaim, the combat Mecha in this game, at which time you'll be able to test them out. Since this is a Beta test, please use the report function in your menu for any glitches or problems. For those of you that are new; You will find that you have been given a substantial amount of starting credit. The purpose of this is balance. We veterans from SAO have come with the advantage of a vast array of skills, even though physical attributes have been reset. We don't want you to feel as though we're better than you, and want you to have every advantage possible. Use the money wisely, for you can actually have a great advantage over us in terms of equipment."

There were a couple of murmurs over this, but none that really stood out. A lot of players were no doubt unhappy about being behind those of us who had our characters preloaded, but as expected the bonus money they started with kept them quiet. It was a smart move on the developers part, and it helped to keep the animosity away from the SAO players. One thing I found odd was that among those who had gathered to welcome everyone to the Closed Beta, I didn't see any of the creators of the game. The only ones present seemed to be players, where normally at least one of the developers would log in as well.

"There are several exits from the city, that lead to what we call the mechanical wasteland. At each of these exit points you will find a hangar where you can customize and equip the Rephaim you will use for combat. Upon returning it will be stored again, and you can access it from any hangar, regardless of where you entered. You're welcome to leave without it, but due to the harsh nature of the world outside of the city, you won't last long. Any other information can be found in the guide provided to each of you in your menu. Before I let you all depart today, there are few of you I would like to recognize."

Pulling up a list in his menu, Toshio began to read off names, and encourage players from the crowd to join them on the platform. It only took me a moment to realize he was looking over a list of people who had logged into MMO, and was pulling front line fighters and popular players from SAO. As Klein's name was called and he clambered up with a grin, a sense of dread gripped me. No doubt my name was on that list, and that was something I wasn't happy about. I didn't want to call any attention to myself, let alone be singled out and paraded in front of all these people. The events of SAO weren't quite common knowledge yet, but in the VRMMO scene a lot of people were aware that I was the one who had cleared the Death Game and let its players return to the real world. As he continued to snag players and the group around him grew, I broke out in a cold sweat.

"Above all there is one person that I want to recognize. One of the top players and the sub-leader of SAO's most powerful guild, not to mention one of the most popular in the game; Asuna, would you join us up here?"

I breathed a sigh of relief as Asuna flushed, glancing over at me. Klein was waving her up, and dozens of people around us were cheering, but Asuna didn't look thrilled to be noticed. At that moment she probably wanted to be anywhere but here, and her gaze remained locked onto me with trepidation. Squeezing her hand gently, I guided her forward with a reassuring smile.

"Go on." I said quietly. "It'll be fine. I'm right here."

Hesitating for only a moment before Liz pushed her toward the stage, Asuna shuffled up to stand with the others. She bowed shyly, unable to stop from blushing. The cheering grew as the other players, mostly new ones who had never seen her, joined in. Despite her discomfort, I couldn't help but smile, though I did feel bad for it. A grinning Klein put an arm around her for support, and while I _was _grateful, I would be giving him a solid punch later for it. Toshio waited for the crowd to quiet, and I wondered if he hadn't noticed I was here. No, his information surely had my name on it. Perhaps as a solo player himself he figured I wouldn't thank him for the attention, or maybe he didn't like that I had been the one everyone had included despite not being in a guild. I didn't know him well enough to decide which it could be.

"Finally," He continued after a hesitation. "At the end of this Beta we will be having a PvP tournament, with prizes being awarded to the top players in their bracket. I look forward to seeing all of your faces there. Especially you, Kirito..."

Smirking, Toshio left the platform, as the crowd around me began to murmur. He hadn't looked at me, or acknowledged my presence in any way, but I had no doubt he knew right where I was. I found Asuna's gaze, and saw the same expression of concern on her face as well. Thankfully most of the players gathered were new, not veterans from SAO, so they would have no idea what I looked like. Even so I suddenly wished I had changed my avatar. Many of them no doubt had heard about the end of Sword Art Online, or my performance in the Battle of Bullets tournament, and I sighed at how difficult it was going to be to avoid questions and prying eyes while playing.

"Don't look so distraught." Lisbeth said with a devious look. "They might know your name, but it's your girlfriend they care about. Look at all the guys trying to steal her away."

She wasn't wrong. Asuna had barely made it down with Klein before a crowd had formed, trying their best to catch her eye. Such was the curse of being a girl in an online game, especially one as beautiful as Asuna. Normally I didn't get jealous of the attention she got, but the look Asuna gave me, pleading for me to save her, got me moving. I shouldered past half a dozen others, taking her hand firmly and pulling her away. Normally this action, with the resistance caused by the people I had to guide her through, would activate the system's settings for harassment. I anticipated this, however, and wasn't concerned. We'd been married in SAO, and while neither of our avatars wore the rings, the system's character data would still read our relationship as the same.

As we managed to break away from the group, their eyes burning into the back of my head, I nodded toward a side street off the square. Klein stayed with us as we quickly got out of sight, but it took a little longer for the rest of our friends to join us. With the crowd dispersing to try and get into their Rephaims before anyone else, it was a bit of a battle for Agil, Silica, and Lisbeth to escape. While we waited patiently for them Asuna held tight to my hand, her head on my shoulder.

"Thank you for that." She said quietly. "I was scared they were going to carry me off. Why would Toshio put us on the spot like that?"

"He's not a solo player now." I said, beginning to understand. "By bringing in top players from two of the most talked about VRMMOs he's putting himself at the top of the pyramid. I'm sure he really wanted to thank those of us that cleared SAO, but he also wants to show all the players in this game how well-connected he is. He was an average player before, and wasn't nearly as strong as either of us. Even Klein was higher level."

"Hey!" Klein protested, grumbling.

"I get it." Asuna said. "By calling us up there with him, it makes it look like he has power over us, right?"

"Exactly. It's clever, but this isn't SAO. Who really cares here?"

"Apparently Toshio does." Klein noted. "What got me was what he said to you, Kirito. What was up with that?"

"I have no idea."

As Agil and the other girls arrived in his wake, Liz ranting about some creep groping her in the crowd, we made our way to the southern end of the city. By this time most of the other players had already departed to the field to start leveling and testing out their Rephaims, but the six of us were in no rush. The hangar area at the southern exit was practically empty when we reached it, and with a measure of excitement we went inside. There was a row of capsules, single person pods, against the wall of the hangar. It wasn't hard to guess their purpose, and I released Asuna's hand as we climbed into a pair of them. It closed with a smooth whoosh, and I sat in darkness for a moment before the inside of the capsule came to life.

"Welcome to the Rephaim loadout." A mechanical female voice announced. "Commencing first link initialization."

There was a brief pause as information flashed over a screen in front of me, and a headset was automatically equipped to my head. A listening device covered my right ear, extending to a microphone near my mouth and a single lens over my right eye. As the headset calibrated, a series of menus appeared on the screen, regarding my armor and customization options. The lens flipped up automatically, to be housed within the earpiece, and before I could even check out anything on the console a familiar voice greeted me.

"I wondered how long I'd be waiting for you!"

"Yui?" I asked, surprised. "Is that you?"

"Of course it is, silly. I connected to this game with you through my backup in your AmuSphere, but the stupid game stuck me here. Apparently in this world I don't have a physical body to use."

"I see. So it kept you stuck in my Rephaim until I connected. Sorry to keep you waiting."

"That's okay! It gave me time to scan the game and gather information."

"What did you find?"

"It's running with The Seed, of course, but a lot of work was done to customize and strengthen the game. Out of all the worlds created from SAO's Cardinal System, this one is the most advanced in terms of programming. Whoever funded it invested a lot of money."

"Interesting. What about the game itself? Is it true all my skills are intact?"

"They should be, but you'll have to test them yourself to see how well they work. Do you want me to help you customize your Rephaim? I'm helping mommy with it now."

"That'd be great."

"Well, I already know what color you want, so that's easy. As for the loadout, that's more complicated. You don't have that many credits for advanced weapons and armor plating. With your play style, I'd say you want a lighter model, with a pair of V-Blades."

"I don't know what those are, but let's go for it."

"Already done. Aren't you glad I know you so well?"

Laughing, I had to agree with her. As the screen in front of me went dark, I felt the capsule I was in shift back, and there was a sense of disorientation as my Rephaim was equipped to my body. There was a pressure over my arms and legs, and in the darkness I saw the circles on the gloves of my jumpsuit begin to glow white. It was a quick transition, as the Mech formed itself around my body like a massive suit of armor. Instead of sitting in a cockpit I was wrapped in the machine, with my head in the armored chest. With a grinding of metal I felt the Rephaim move, as the Heads Up Display appeared in front of me. The HUD sprang to life, and functioned almost like the actual game menu. It was so integrated that it didn't feel awkward or strange, which surprised me. I found myself in a different part of the hangar, with no capsules lining the wall. During the initialization process it had apparently moved me.

"All done!" Yui said, her smiling voice in my earpiece. "Now that you've linked with it, you don't need to use the capsules again. You just have to enter the hangar and choose the option from your menu, and the Rephaim will automatically be equipped. You can reach the menu with voice commands, or if you would prefer you can remove your arm from the machine by touching your thumb to your middle and ring finger."

I did just that to test it, and the moment the three digits touched, the right arm of the Mech released the pressure on my arm. I pulled it inside to see how quickly it worked before synching it back with the Rephaim's arm. It was quick and easy, but I wouldn't be able to use it in a fight. Getting used to the voice commands would be a good idea. Clenching both fists and watching silver-black hands do the same through the HUD was cool, made my way out of the large opening in the hangar. I emerged outside of the dome, and took in the landscape in front of me.

The land outside was barren and covered in rust colored dirt, kicking up plumes as I walked away from the hangar. Movement was pretty smooth, with little strain. With some practice I felt I could get some real speed out of the thing. I turned around just in time to see Asuna emerge as well, her Rephaim of a similar size to mine. White trimmed in red, as I expected. Despite that her old guild's colors hadn't been her choice, they had grown on her, and I suppose on me as well. The armor was sleek and elegant, with a smooth gleam and feminine frame that suited Asuna. I hadn't imagined it would look so cool, and I had to admit I was impressed with the details.

"Kirito," Asuna said, her voice reaching through the earpiece. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes." I hazarded, unsure of how to communicate. "Yui, can Asuna hear me too?"

"I set up the comm system for both of you to save time. I'll do it for the others when they're done too."

"That's very sweet of you." I replied with a chuckle, happy for the thousandth time that we found Yui in SAO.

"Your suit looks amazing Kirito. It's almost scary."

"I wish I could see it. Yours looks pretty badass too."

"Hold on, let me try something."

A moment later Asuna's face appeared in my HUD, off to the side to not obscure my vision. She grinned at me from inside her cockpit, waving. I couldn't help but smile back when I saw how excited she looked, and then Asuna looked away to fiddle with her own machine. Her face was replaced with an image of the wasteland, and as her Rephaim's head turned toward me I realized what she had done. I was seeing what she saw through her display, and got a good look at myself. I found the same menu and did the same for her.

My armor was much different than Asuna's. Where hers was smooth, mine was harsh. It was narrow and dangerous looking, black trimmed in silver, with sharp corners on the joints. It looked fast and deadly, and I fell in love with it instantly. I wasn't sure if Yui had specifically designed it this way, but somehow I felt that it was more a representation of my skills and avatar from SAO. It was way better than I could have imagined, and watching through Asuna's eyes I moved around, testing its responsiveness until the rest of our friends left the hangar. Without Yui to help them, it took them longer to customize their Rephaims, and as they joined us outside our AI daughter worked her magic once again.

"Normally you can only speak to another player if you open a communication channel with them directly. The exception is if you're in a party, or a squadron as this game calls it." Yui explained. "I went ahead and overrode that for the moment, but you're probably going to end up talking over each other."

She was right, and it took us a few minutes to get used to the rhythm of talking without being face to face. While the others took the time to try to figure out the commands and options me and Asuna had played with, I remained quiet and observed. It seemed like every Rephaim in the game was unique, and I wondered how many variations were possible. With everyone gathered together, it was easy to see how big the differences were.

Agil's was massive, smokey gray and looked heavily armored. It was easily twice the size of mine and Asuna's, which were maybe half a meter taller than a person. It probably weighed tons, but moved rather smoothly. I doubted it could be as quick as the smaller ones, but it was imposing and impressive. On the opposite end of the spectrum was Silica, whose armor was so small that it seemed about the same size as her. Green in color, it stood out against the landscape, and was as bright as she was.

Klein and Lisbeth were of a similar size, slightly larger than me and Asuna, and with the obvious pink and red that made them stand out. Klein's model had a length of red hair coming down from the back of the helmet, and had a segmented chest plate reminiscent of a samurai. With medium armor on the legs and arms, it looked solid and reliable. Liz's was rather rounded. Large dome pauldrons on the shoulders, with circular guards on the elbows and knees. None of them were carrying a visible weapon, of course neither was I. It probably needed to be equipped.

"Kirito," Klein said, bringing his Rephaim to a crouch. "Isn't this awesome?"

"Yeah it's pretty cool."

Klein jumped, and managed an impressive vertical leap before his armor hit the ground with a tremendous impact. He faltered and almost tipped over, but managed to regain his balance at the last moment, laughing hysterically. Everyone else was playing around with their Rephaim's, and I pulled up the area map.

"We should probably explore the wasteland and see what kind of enemies they have here." I said. "Why don't we split up into parties of two and check it out?"

"Uh huh." Liz said, her face appearing in front of me. "Trying to get some alone time with Asuna, are we?"

"N-no!" I shot back. "It's just that we don't have a full party of seven here. If this is anything like SAO, the most optimal experience gain comes from being in a pair or full party, unless you're running solo..."

"Those days are over for you, mister." Asuna reminded me with a laugh. "Why don't we go look around, and we'll meet back here in a couple of hours?"

"In that case..." Lisbeth mumbled, turning her Rephaim toward Agil.

Unfortunately for the blacksmith, Silica had already beat her to the massive Rephaim. The small green armor had somehow managed to clamber up onto Agil's larger frame, and was seated on his left shoulder. She gave Liz a thumbs up, and I could visibly see the other girl's shoulders slump inside of her armor. With trepidation, Liz's head swiveled toward Klein.

"Looks like it's you and me." He said enthusiastically, moving next to her too quickly, almost knocking both of them to the dirt.

"Fine!" She replied. "But if you try anything funny, I'm going to beat you all the way back to ALO."

"It's settled then." I said. "We'll meet back here in two hours, and we can talk about what we found."

"I'll take that time to go through the system some more, see what else I can play with." Yui supplied, departing my headset for virtual places unknown.

As our friends parted ways, Silica bouncing on Agil's shoulder and Liz dragging her mechanical feet, Asuna as I lingered. Her face appeared in front of me, that excitement still plain in her smile, and we started off into the wasteland. Ahead were some deserted ruins of some cityscape, demolished buildings and vehicles standing out against the dirt, which was a good place to start. Behind me I heard Lisbeth's voice chime in one last time over the communication channel.

"Now Kirito, Asuna, I hope you realize there isn't enough room in either of your Rephaim's for two people."

In spite of how close we had become, and the nights we spent in each others arms, Asuna still blushed in embarrassment. Looking at her through my HUD, I almost considered logging out to hold her in the real world.


End file.
